I'm obviously a slow typist as well.
Thanks for answering earnestly, but the above does raise another question - when was the last time that you tried integrated shifters? Given the actuation force for everything except the small-to-big chainring, "whacking" is probably the last word that springs to mind for me.
I had no idea some people found shifting so complex.
I don't think he is even saying that friction prevents a poor reaction. If I had to guess, it's that friction makes it so undesirable to make small gearing tweaks that he waits until the last second to shift in situations with greatly varying terrain so that he only needs to shift once per change. Why else would someone find it acceptable to give up so much momentum by making such a vast gearing change as big/small to small/big?
With friction I only have to move the lever/levers only once whether I am moving 1 gear(ratio) away or 10. I don't know if that makes sense to the rest of you or not. Here is an analogy. I have type O blood so I get called every 2 weeks to donate platelets. You have to sit on the machine and during the draw cycle, you have to squeeze a palm ball every 3-5 seconds. The physical movement(to me) of squeezing that ball is similar to shifting a STI lever, just more exaggerated. I was thinking about this very thing last time I donated as I was pondering that frame I need to build. After an hour of squeezing that ball, my forearm is really pumped up and tight. I've had about all of it I can take. Comparing the squeezing of the ball with the bike shifting, if it is friction, I only have to squeeze that ball(shift/move the lever) once or twice(if I shift both front and back) each 3 to 5 seconds. If it is indexed/STI I have to squeeze that ball(shift/move the lever) more that only once or twice per squeeze.(unless I only move 1 cog) With the indexed/STI I might be squeezing that ball 5+ times every 3-5 seconds. That is a whole lot more squeezing/shifting over an hours worth of donating/riding and my forearms get pumped/tighter/uncomfortable faster.
That analogy probably confuses everyone even more. Maybe I'm just a big wuss and need to HTFU!
